Fuel efficiency is an important factor when operating marine vessels. Only a slight reduction in fuel consumption, for example 1-2%, may produce a significant monetary reduction in operating costs of a marine vessel. Thus, there is a constant challenge to operate the marine vessel with as low costs as possible in terms of fuel efficiency.
There are several parameters that have an effect on the total fuel efficiency of a marine vessel, for example, speed through water, speed over ground, draught, trim, propeller efficiency, wind direction and velocity, and significant wave height and direction. Most of these parameters are such that they can be somehow measured by the marine vessel itself and that the marine vessel's information systems have this information available. Further, some parameters may require a separate sensor or sensors to be installed in order to be able to record the parameter values. For example, to measure RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) of a propeller, it may be necessary to install a sensor to the propeller shaft or the main engine if the marine vessel cannot provide the RPM information otherwise.
If there is a desire to perform a more detailed analysis of some or all of these parameters when analyzing, for example, fuel efficiency of a marine vessel, typically one has to have an access to the marine vessel's information systems in order to access the necessary pieces of information. Additionally, as discussed above, it may also be necessary to install new sensors to have the necessary information available.
Integration to the systems of a marine vessel, in order to have access to desired parameters of the marine vessel, is a complicated and time consuming task. Since systems of marine vessels usually differ from each other, the integration task is usually also vessel-specific. This means that for each marine vessel, the marine vessel has to be inspected thoroughly in order to be able to determine how the integration can be done and what needs to be done. The integration task also requires specific skills from the people implementing the integration or even a third party service engineer to visit the ship.